


Reset, Reboot

by Heals



Series: Diaries of Hibiki [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 21:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20453804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heals/pseuds/Heals
Summary: Finding herself stranded on the First Hibiki is losing her perspective





	Reset, Reboot

A year had passed since the beacon near the Crystal Tower had swallowed her; a year since her arrival on The First and a year since the war against the Lightwardens.

Becoming the Warrior of Darkness had certainly been an experience.. just as much as almost breaking and becoming a soulless monstrosity herself.Yet, saving a world at the brink of destruction had felt like the right thing to do - like her thing. But even after surviving all of it Hibiki hadn't expected the final price to pay.

G'raha Tia had promised to send her and the Scions back to the Source and for the most part he had held up to it. With the Lightwardens gone and the Aetheric balance slowly returning to something you could call "normal" it turned out to be infinitely easier to send the incorporeal souls of Y'Shtola, Alisae, Alphinaught and all her other friends back home and reunite them with their dormant bodies.

Pushing a complete living being, body, soul and all back to through the Rift however turned out to be a mostly impossible task.  
At first it looked like it was a simple issue of timing, a fluctuation in the First's Aether, a slip of concentration.. any of these could have tipped the delicate balance required to form a bridge between realities.

Hibiki chose to believe, she chose to wait, sending one friend after another back home to the Source until only she herself was left. Not alone but still stranded here in this foreign world.

In the end the Crystal Exarch had to admit defeat. It simply was not possible to send her back to her world and time without a suitable anchor to hold onto; an anchor that had been readily available for all of the Scions in the very corporeal form of their living bodies, suspended like empty vessels ready to be imbued with a their spirit again. But this was not possible for her.. she arrived on the First with her all and besides stories and memories in the minds of those she left behind there was nothing to form a link back.

It was a grudging defeat - the kind that leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth and makes you question all of your choices over and over again while you're trying to fall asleep late at night - and it left Hibiki in a broken, devastated state completely reliant on the shelter and care of everyone in the Crystarium.

That was until one day a knock at her door tore her from another of bad dream..

_"Hmmmmm.... Come in, the door is not locked and you know well enough."_

Looking at the faint rays of sunlight that pierced her drawn curtains it must be early evening, maybe later - time had lost most of it's meaning to her since she started to spend all of it alone in her chambers inside the Pendants. 

_"What is the matter? Come in I said.. and if you're just here to bring dinner then I'll tell you right now that I'm not inter..."_

She froze mid sentence; the head that poked in through the door was not whom she had expected.

_"What.. Why? How are you here?"_

_"Oh, you know; just a visit once in a while so I thought I'd check in on you!"_

The door opened a crack further and Ryne swiftly entered the room; her red hair trailing behind like a sunset cloud. She had changed so much in such a short time.. barely reconisable from the shy girl burdened with an impossible past that she had been just a few months ago. 

G'raha Tia was following in her wake... 

A lazy swipe and two chairs covered in papers, books and clothing were excavated and offered to her uninvited guests with the most sincere scowl Hibiki could muster.

_"Just a visit, hmm.. with **both of you** having that idea at the same time? I'm not in a good mood or mindset but I'm not dumb either, what brings you here?"_

Ryne put on a mischievous smirk as she sat down.

_"Hibiki.. G'raha Tia and I had a long talk about you and you situation..."_

She cut her short

_"My 'situation' hmm? You're referring to the fact that I'm stuck here forver; loved by everyone as 'their' Warrior of Darkness but ultimately knowing a few of them if any at all in the end? That situation?"_

Ryne joined her in scowling but recovered swiftly.

_"Yes, that about puts it to terms.Listen dear, I know how hard it hit you to lose everything and it hurts to see you like this._

_When was the last time you went outside? Talked to anyone? Took a walk?"_

_"What does it matter?"_

_"It matters to me. It matters to everyone outside that you saved and it would also matter to Thankred, Y'Shtola and each of your friends that had to leave you behind here."_

Hibiki let out a grudging sigh of acceptance.

_"So then tell me.. what great revelations have you brought?"_

_"Please, Hibiki, listen to me for just five minutes without spite.. We used to be friends and for my part I never quit that friendship."_

That one hit..

_"Neither did I.. I'm sorry.All of this was just too much for me to handle."_

_"And that's just why we are here today"_

_"Go on then, I'll behave.. promise."_

She would try at least...

_"G'raha Tia can't send you back to the Source, you know that much already. But while we can't manage a feat like that we can offer you something that might be able to get you over the peril of being stuck here, cheered by everyone and unable to live a normal life. If we combine the Aetherical magics of the Crystal Tower and the skills Minfilia granted me as her heritage then we should be able to "change" you, or more specifically give your body a new appearance that would allow you to simply leave this place and start a new life anywhere on the First without anyone ever reconizing you for who you truly are. I know it's a wild idea but.. but it's the only way I can think of to help you.”_

Ryne was looking at her with a sad but resolved expression.

_”If you're interested at all that is."_

This offer was indeed a weird one, but nonetheless it was a chance.A fresh start, a new self and not the face everyone would forever associate as the savior of the First.

_"Of course it wouldn't change anything between us - neither me and you nor the Exarch here."_

A nod from G'raha Tia.

_"I was blessed with this chance by Minfilia, even if it was just my hair and eye colour, and I think it's the least we can do for you."_

It took a few minutes until Hibki's expression changed from deep thought to resolve.

_"I think it's worth a try. If only to get me out of this room..."_

That statement put a smile on the faces of both of her guests.

All of this had happened two months ago and to the great pleasure of both Ryne and the Crystal Exarch was a marvelous success. The tall, slender Miqo'te woman was past, as was Hibiki the Warrior of Light and Darkness. In her stead - and to everyones slight surprise - now stood a Lalafel girl; or a Dwarf as they were called here on the first.

She'd chosen this fate for herself just as she had chosen her new name - "Cassandra". Not typical for the Dwarven folk but not as exotic as to draw too much attention.

Much had happened in this fateful months and Cassandra now lived in one of the myriad of small settlements that cropped up like a wildfire everywhere in the Lakelands. Her days were quiet at first - tending to her garden, offering her skilled hands as a healer and mender for bruises and all the needs people had - but it ultimately was what she had been missing all along; a chance at a fresh start.

She still made a habit of visiting the Crystal tower and having long talks with G'raha Tia or Ryne whenever they happened to meet. That part hadn't changed, but almost everything else had and her world felt more real again with every passing day.

It was an early morning in late summer when she woke up with something she hadn't felt for a very, very long time..

She felt in the mood to go on an adventure.

_\-- From the Diaries of Hibiki / the Adventures of Cassandra, morning of the 31st Sun, 8th Moon in the 7th Astral Era_


End file.
